I'm 56. I've seen a lot of bands, been to a lot of concerts. I still go to a lot of concerts.

What I've never seen, is a band say to their fans what Trey did last night during the encore.

I've also never seen an encore even close to last night's.

These guys, are special.

I didn't start following them until last year. But man, am I glad I started.

They keep me young.

I thought I had seen it all. Last night changed all that.

I'm going to keep going, until I can't. I'm not holding last night as the standard. But last night I saw what's possible when 4 guys play rock and roll.

Thank you, Phish.

So much to note from a show capping a tour which has every fan thanking the band.

It’s fun to pick apart stands (Atlanta), shows (8/22/15), songs (Twist), segues (Cheezer), snippets (I Know You Rider), samples (Your Trip is Short!), shout-outs (Ween), and sound checks (Mercury).

**But how about an extra Set—as opposed to an encore—in a summer rife with thoughtful, exciting encores.**

Seriously…. The band may occasionally flub a line, or ‘miss’ a change (Who said that…. Brad?), but they NEVER miss a beat, ending the summer, and Dick’s(?), in classic Phish style: a feat of epic prestidigitation.

The music comes first. And it’s ‘in’ tonight’s music where we see the completely healthy, collective mindset of the band.

Where we see the ‘duality’ that is (can we just drop ‘Point Whatever?’) Phish.

There is set one’s The Landlady—who, we thought, turned bitter in the early 90s, sold her tenement, resigned herself to her fate, satisfied to reside inside PYITE—

This no more!

And this, when coupled with heavy Magilla and Manteca teasing, and the emergence of Scabbard, cements a sentiment which evokes ‘early’ Phish, a sound the band regularly employed before they came to believe that these numbers simply wouldn’t translate well into rooms ever-increasing in size.

A welcome return, truly. Even if only from an ideas / song-writing standpoint.

And Mercury(!)—played well night two—with is many and varied sections; here we find a veritable, a millennial sort of Fluffhead.

And what’s not to like about Seven, Caspian, BDTNL, The Line…. A fluid wave of fun with, who cares about the order, an extra-funky Moma, and a sonic Mule (this song is great in the first, as it lends itself well to a ‘What the F’ attitude. Which is what we got next, with Moon, The Birdwatcher (cool weirdness) and some Edgar Winters.

The second set is a bit of a monster. Even I thought the band would go Sand instead of DWD (well, honestly, not really….).

But the forty-minute or whatever throw down which follows is why we go to shows—to have fun and break free.

Silent/Horse and Slave illustrate yet another side of Phish (okay, if, like me, you follow the band from a religious ‘sense,’ which is different than ‘religiously,’ perhaps they’re pluralistic), the music both calm and transcendent, reminding you why you’re where you are, and, more importantly, who it is that you are with….

But back to duality. (And consciousness! Talk about the Once in a Lifetime cover…. ‘a dog, a dog….’ What imaginations…. What creativity….)

In stepping into No Man’s Land and Blazing On, Trey, (and who cares what the latter song is ‘really’ about / if you have any DOUBT as to what Trey and Tom are up to, tonight’s NO2 should put that to rest) seems to have arrived at a separate peace. He can put on his triple X black Jerry tee (ala 10/31/94) or, if not a Wingsuit, a pair of Bobby’s cut-off jeans.

Point is: It Doesn’t Matter.

He can acknowledge his past…. And he can use that to PROPEL his future.

Because, more than anything, Trey wears, and regularly, a huge, and happy, smile.

**People say ‘Thank You’ all the time. It’s uncommon that I really, deeply, feel ‘it’: Tonight I totally did.**

The tomb of the red queen is painted in vermillion.

Page is the Walrus.

For anyone who has taken the time to read this summer: Thank You.

And I bid you goodnight.

I'm sitting at the airport in Denver, stupid tired, and just heard an announcement for the Esquandolas party to meet at the PGA store. A few moments earlier, they announced that there was a phone call for Colonel Forbin. No idea how that got through, but everyone who laughed made eye contact and shared smiles. So I guess maybe I get why Trey was the one thanking us in the encore. I guess you get out what you put in, wether you're looking at it from our side or the band's side. To all those who were starting to hate on this year's Dick's run for being disappointing or not quite up to par after nights one and two... pffft.

Friday had some solid moments, Saturday was mediocre on any scale, and Phish made frequent stops at the clam bar during the composed sections of multiple tunes throughout the weekend. But then you got Sunday.

Sunday!

For those just now getting a chance to point your ears at the last show of a great summer, most in attendance will be frothing uncontrollably about the encore, but don't skip the music that set us off into the night.

Check out the welcome-if-warty rarity of an opener, and some tasty playing straight through 7 below. Caspian was 'too soon' for me after that big league swinger from the Glen, but still brought some extra action. Mule's fun, their voices sound quite good on Birdwatcher and Frankenstein's got juice.

Set 2 can safely be spun top to bottom - piles of crowd energy in Wilson, Trey goes almost atonal as the band goes to the outer depths in Disease, Carini's dark and dank, and we just don't slow down in Steam or Piper. 2001 is wearing holes in my shoes when of all things Tweezer hits. The crowd becomes one undulating mass of happy people. Horse Morning is the best take a piss song that I never take a piss to unless it's in my pants, followed by a soaring Slave. Who isn't psyched at this point?

So, encore. Trey gives an audible that something's afoot when he asks us to only write Harpua once. My wife loudly says, "what are they spelling," and I hadn't even thought about that because Harpua, amiright? The next 30 or so minutes are smart, funny, irreverent, sentimental and fun. All the things this band has been for decades. They might not pay close attention to much of the chatter out in the world, but I have never thought they're immune to it. Trey's incredibly sincere words in the encore confirmed it. All I can think is that these guys are happy that they're in Phish. They're happy we're a part of it. There's probably no band that is more rewarding to be a fan of, now or ever.

What a show, what a tour, what a band.
They have literally upped the stakes and surprised even the most jaded fan at every turn since Halloween 2013.
Just when it doesn't seem like they couldn't possibly pull any more tricks out of their hat they throw down an event so singular and self-defining/referenceing as to knock our collective smiles off of our faces and onto the floor.
If you caught this show in person you are truly blessed.
An Actual Landlady, a Keyboard Army & Once In A Fucking Lifetime form a triptych of tunes not each unheard from in over 500+ concerts.
You caught one of only 4 Birdwatchers.
A an exceedingly rare Frankenstein, a lovely fan generated Seven Below in the 1st Set & a Down With Disease that eats cynicism & spits out bliss.
You didn't catch any tentpole jams in the run of Carini > Steam > Piper > 2001 > Tweezer but you probably didn't mind as that marathon 45 minutes of music was so well wrought that it felt like a single piece, each song studded with a uniquely 3.0 sound.
When The Horse emerged from a truncated Tweezer it took me back to the early days of 3.0 where that pairing happened several times, usually to great disdain.
But this time it felt all right.
An affirmation that we've come a far piece indeed, that Phish is still doing now what they were doing then, that they got it all along and now their steadfastness of vision is paying off dividends.
Slave is a set closer in that has so much in common with Hood. The differences are something I personally feel but find very hard to put into words. Slave feels pensive & gracious where Hood feels celebratory & affirming, each so unmistakably Phish, each so slippery & hard to pin down, both putting in serious work after a quarter century of self-defining moments, a feat for any artist.
You also caught the Encore, experiencing something that will likely never be repeated at a Phish concert.
But then again we've been saying that since the S show in 2011 & this band has shocked us time & again since that fateful night.
From Fuck You to Thank You Phish is as dichotomous, bewildering, joyful & as devastatingly imaginitive as the were in whatever your definition of the "good ol-days" is
Same as it Ever Was.

If there were any questions about whether the Dick’s “gag” had run its course, I would say those were put to bed last night. Quite literally. In fact, maybe last night is not the right perspective to look at things from. Perhaps, we should dually note that every night of Dick’s 2015 had an encore worthy of praise. Perhaps we could even say that the true gag this year were those inspired encores played each night. Typically one would not be excited by Phish shows that only boast strong encores, but these shows may be the exception. After all, what better way to thank your fan base than to turn the obligatory “a few tunes to send you home with” into something with some genuine meaning. Using that lens, the last 3 nights make sense. Using that lens also makes what happened last night have incredible meaning for this writer.

See, last night for me (from the couch) was about Harley. Who is Harley? Well Harley is my 10 year old, black, long haired cat. Harley has been with my wife and I since we were first married. Harley is what made us “a family” before we started having kids. Unfortunately, this past week, we found out that Harley would not be with us for much longer as he had developed cancer that the vet said was terminal. So we made the decision to make him comfortable for the long weekend so he could spend some time being spoiled by his family: tuna, catnip, all the good stuff. After the weekend, we would make the call that every pet owner dreads.

So, this whole weekend I was telling my wife that there would be a Harpua for Harley. It only made sense. The last Harpua was played in Chicago after a monsoon. I was there braving the rains and lapping up the reward, although one could argue that the Northerly Island Harpua was...well, let’s just call it interesting. No matter. Just as Phish had literally done then, they would surely do figuratively now: the storm would be gone. Well, after the show started and ended late, there was nearly an hour set break and the encore fired up with the expected tweeprise closer, I was resigned to thinking that maybe it was not meant to be. And then it happened...

Every Phish fan dreams of hearing Oom Pah Pah emerge from the PA. When it actually happens, it is a bit of a surreal moment. Now, I’ve been lucky enough to see one in person, but was no less excited to hear one from the couch. I literally jumped off the couch and started yelling for joy while running around my basement last night. I WAS getting my Harpua for Harley (figuratively of course). Even my wife, who finds my adoration of Phish to be a bit obsessive, couldn’t believe what had just happened and decided to share in the moment. What continued on for the next 40 minutes was nothing short of remarkable for me. For posterity, just reflect: Harpua>After Midnight>NO2>Keyboard Army (!!!!!!!)>Your Pet Cat>Once in a Lifetime (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)>United We Stand. Yeah people, that is pretty absurd.

Typically I am not one to try and find higher meaning in Phish shows. I go, watch, listen because the music is the higher meaning for me. It’s always been that way for this fan. Last night however, I can’t help but feel that deeper meaning. Its hard for me not to put that final piece of music for 2015 (no fall or winter tours coming) up on a pedestal as something more than the normal. Quite frankly, as so many have noted, it is hard to not put Summer 2015 on a pedestal in general...it really has been a great tour: We got some great new tunes in NMINML and Blaze On (I also dig Mercury) that almost immediately found a home in the jam rotation, we got some great shows (Atlanta 1, Blossom, Alpine Valley 2, Mann 2, MPP 1, Magnaball...all of it), we got some great summer Tweezers, we got the MuTron, we got a band that was clearly invigorated and inspired to come out night after night and tear the roof off amphitheaters nation wide. I’m rambling now...

What I am saying is Harley will be survived by his feline brother Wilson and his distant, distant second cousin Penny Lane (the dog), but for me, his memory will always be carried on in the encore from last night. The story of a cat spun together a magical musical moment that capped off a wonderful summer of music. As it were, I found some deeper meaning in the music last night, but that is just my story within the story of Summer 2015. It may not even be the most memorable moment of sumer 2015 for me - Alpine 2 was literally a greatest hits of songs I had never seen in person played in one set...with my two best Phish buds...who also braved the rains to see Harpua in Chicago 2 years ago. So...maybe I can buy in to the whole deeper meaning after all...maybe the band really did understand the need to cheer up a downtrodden fan halfway across the country...maybe this is all coincidence. Who knows? All I know is last night meant something to me and ended a great tour in a great way.

Oh, and the rest of the show isn’t half bad either.

A few thoughts, in lieu of a full review (this is my favorite show of a thoroughly underrated Dick's run - possibly the best so far since the era-defining 2012 run, when it's all said and done):

1. I liked the first set, myself.

2. Here's the highest compliment I can pay this phenomenal, heart-stopping Disease - I finally, fully understand the Went Gin now.

3. Set II is basically a '76 Dead Set II kinda set. Hey, people aren't all that into '76 Dead, either. Their loss. Carini and Piper are *great* (Piper echoes the Disease, in a nice touch).

4. Musically, there might be an encore or two that can outstrip this one (certainly 12/30/97, for one). But for sheer cleverness and emotion (cf. Trey's speech before United We Stand)? It's gonna be a tough one to beat.

5. A tour like Summer 2015 doesn't come down the pike all that often, and it's hard to imagine a better closer to the tour than this show.

Ridiculous ending to an incredible tour, I attended both Magnaball & Dicks, & each weekend was an awesome spectacle to behold, this particular show had people going Ape! 3 sets as far as I'm concerned, the Landlady, I saw it again, & of course that absolutely electric Frankstein were the highlights for me in the First set. Second set was fire from the very beginning especially that funk-a-thon Carini>Steam>Piper>2001>Tweezer, I was coming out of my shoes! Then the THANKYOU set/encore was awesome, hilarious & blew my mind, long live the Phish from VT!

This was my first Dick's run and boy was it fun. Decades of phishy evangelicalism towards my family paid off last year when my Denver-based nephew went to the full Dick's run and was thoroughly converted. In 2015, he helped pull together a terrific excursion to Bend and then encouraged me to make the effort to get to Dick's. In Oregon he was openly hoping for Harpua as well as a slew of more conventional songs. I found his song-chasing and hopeless newbie romanticism endearing as it made me nostalgic for my equivalent 1.0 zeal of the converted phase, back when I was the 20-something forgetting his birthday off partying at Clifford and Great Went. I told him that he'd have to hope they didn't play Harpua at Magnaball and then maybe they'd play it at Dick's. But really. They didn't play it at all in 2014. Don't git yer hopes up there young fellah.

Impressions after the show: the first set was super-eclectic the highlights of which were the Landlady bustout, rough as it was, Scent, Frankenstein, and Seven Below. Fun but nothing special as first sets go.

I went down to the floor for the remainder after a weekend in the stands and that was a great decision with all the high energy tunes that followed. The Disease jam got weird for a bit before developing an uplifting melodic pattern that built slowly due to Trey keeping himself at the periphery for what seemed like forever, such that when he did come alive it took the jam and the whole arena off into outer space. I was reminded of the Went Bathtub, not quite that euphoric a peak but definitely in terms of the patience and crowd/band synergy. Carini/Steam/Piper would never make it onto a fantasy setlist of mine but there was tasty playing stashed away throughout that burned away any consideration of the opportunity costs of their being in the setlist. The 2001 was perfectly placed and stretched out with loads of the new zippy trippy loop like effects, which I'm a big fan of. I love late set Tweezer, don't remember much about this one. The Slave was a solid A Slave. Really great set in the grand scheme of things.

The set ended around midnight. My nephew asks for my encore prediction and I optimistically call for Harpua on his behalf. He suggests that Harpua doesn't end with a bang, so maybe not a great final song. Well then sure, just tack on the Tweeprise, why can't we have both? So they come out and do Tweeprise, and I am sad, because I think that must mean that they are hitting their curfew and that's all we are going to get.

Needless to say, the highlight of this show if not the whole summer was the OM PAH PAH moment. The next half an hour was pure magic, a nostalgic trip for me back to Big Cypress (After Midnight), 7/8/94 Gamehendge (NO2), Fall 95 Chessboard tour (Keyboard Army), Vegas 2014 (Your Pet Cat). I didn't go to the RIL 96 Halloween show and it is just as well because I thought the Once in a Lifetime was a musical mess, but it just didn't matter. So much joy.

I have not yet listened to the recordings and I'm sure I'll find more to like and more to criticize down the road.

As an aside, the venue staff at Dick's were hilarious and suitably passive. Some were high-fiving, some were chain smoking, some were dancing their ass off, some were taking bribes of nugs to let people on the floor, some were bewildered, but most of them seemed to enjoy the atmosphere. One told us "were were told... you can do what you want so long as you don't fight." As it should be!

Set One: Everything Just Right

The anticipation was palpable and smiles were irresistible heading into the tour closer. It quickly became clear the band had reconnected in that effortless joyous way that they hadn’t quite over the prior two evenings. Listening and dusting little surprises everywhere with ease. A Moma to love, but it didn’t reach as high as 7/31/15 Atlanta. But that’s not quite where this set seemed to be going either: this was an open-aired and breathable set. Listen to the energetic but almost quiet Seven Below for a sense of how 20,000+ were dancing, smiling, almost glowing.

All signs were boding well for bliss, and no one was going to have to try too hard to get there. By the time the band eased into Caspian—which of course could only be understood in the context of the 8/22/15 Watkins Glen masterpiece—the crowd (at least our Rage Side in front of sound board—you know who you are baby!!!) and band had gelled and it really seemed, already at that point, you just knew, it was feeling right. We had goosebumps even before the smooth segue into a perfectly-placed poignant BDtNL, at which point, I think, a lot of us were starting to vibrate with the weightless gravity of the different things that this song, show, tour, band, and story means.

The Line: some days the shots don’t sink! And somedays you can’t miss. Close doesn’t count, they say, except in horseshoes and hand grenades. But wait Phish metaphorists: close does count in concert. See Friday. And when all the shots land like tonight, five stars aren’t enough.

SoaMule was when things started to get crazy as it served to up the intensity; especially the Russian Duel with its newly expanded invite list. Page’s fingers were noticeably fast and his sense of rhythm subtle, here and elsewhere tonight. Mike wasn’t taking no for an answer. Fish offered something menacing and delicate. This dramedy earned rapt attention and then shifted up another gear, right into Saw It Again! I SAW IT AGAIN!!

Trey seemed to land early this show into his comfort zone, the best possible launch pad for some more dangerous riffs like those that Saw It Again invites. On Half Way to the Moon, he transitioned those into rhythm and accents during Page’s short-but-fantastic pre-bridge solo, encouraging Page to express similar edge heart-tugging confident, and again later during the longer aspirational jam. People were dancing hard! This is really no ballad.

Birdwatcher was a treat. And then Page put on JB’s Keytar. Yeah you can hear me wooowooo awoooo ing on the tape. Oh yes you can! Man Steve and I have been owed one of these since that meatstick shitshow in Vegas 4/17/04. And Phish Delivered.

Nothing necessarily miraculous in this set but everything just right.

Set Two: The ON Button

Phish responded to the palpable energy heading into the second set (and the fans’ chanting) with a concise, typically energetic Wilson. But it was the Disease that epitomized this show: carefree, celebratory, natural, and gorgeous. A fishman-Propelled booty shaker with a blissful melodic finish. Bliss. Full. And Trey Suh-mokesit!

It’s hard to describe how fired up the crowd was at that moment … the opening chords of Carini were sheer electricity. The crowd pulsed and undulated with ferocious consonance! Band super loose tight! And Carini tailed with a nice span of headier stuff.

Steam didn't stray but stayed "on" and eminently danceable. Piper not my song choice but 2001 sure was. All I can report is that dancing was off the charts. Tweezer at this point in the set?! Utterly complete band-crowd connection. A complete collective effing rockout. Double Mike bell in the justdrums before uncle Ebenezer. Fishman slightly slows and--with page's rhythmelodic leadership--slightly funksup the jam, opening he stage for phenomenal interplay from the others, providing possibly the most exploratory space of the evening, momentarily before moving to a perfectly placed Horse>Silent>Slave. These are songs to crunch your heart into tears and then explode it like the Big Bang. Tired and so alive from a weekend of dancing meeting hugging laughing sharing. From travel and three shows. From the party bus and DJ Captain Choice (woot woot!). And from our band's connection and easy propulsion that arrived tonight.

This set was filled with relatively concise versions of great songs, played with buzzing electricity.

Encore: Unforgettable and one of the best of all time. So many others will cover it that I’ll save you the play-by-play and just ask you to hear the band express its deepest gratitude to us, saying, “we feel blessed to become part of something that’s become so beautiful and so unique, we talk about it a lot backstage … I mean I know we’re up here playing the music, but this is our chance to say to you … this is such a good feeling and you guys are creating it all … we feel like we’re a small part of that, whatever that is … and we want to thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts.”

A magical weekend!

I didn't attend, but this show has 1) The biggest three bustouts of the entire tour all in one show, 2) a Set II near flawless in its flow, despite song lengths not being super extended, and 3) the greatest encore in Phish history. If you don't rank this a 5, I can't help you; you are either trying to knock it down because you're jealous or you're a crusty East Coaster who ignores great shows in other time zones. This is an easy 5.

Just like everyone else, I watched the time of the show and wondered why they had an near hour long setbreak. Some of us joked how Trey had learned to do hour long setbreaks with the Dead this summer and was this going to be their Dead set (we joked about that dead set that people always talked about but we all knew would never happen, nor do we even want it to happen). We just wanted our boys to come back and hit one out of the park one last time this summer. Loving Set II we wondered how they were going to jam all that energy into a short set 2.

Set 2 was nothing short of spectacular for me with an amazing DWD & 2001. I loved recalling Trey talking to us last year about the Horse and that was not overlooked. Silent in the Morning has always been a favorite and so close to the Jewish High Holidays it always resonates and connects me to the services "Silent in the morning, You found your voice that brings me to my knees, I will not dismiss you, shelter you, speak with you" It just connects, resonates with me and makes me want to be a better person.

When Tweezer Reprise came on I figured they were going to do just a very short and sweet one because of the curfew.

And the rest of the encore / set 3 will be permanently burned in to my brain. I don't think I have ever ever EVER had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing and cackling with that much sheer joy in my life. Literally, I had to cover my mouth to muffle so much outrageous joy! It was the most amazing way for them to thank us, the audience. My words cannot capture the pure positive energy and joy walking out of that venue and the energy in the lot afterwards was just pure bliss, joy, positivity and love.

What an amazing way to end a summer tour!

I only get to a few shows per year and this was THAT phish show for me, which I will be talking and reminiscing about for quite some time.

During the After Midnight segment I turned to my girlfriend and said "once in a lifetime show here"....then somehow the people next to me (Dan from Austin and his girlfriend) had the Thank You spelling figured out by NO2. This blew my mind, and after Keyboard Army and Your Pet Cat we were trying to guess what would represent O. As the words came out of Trey's mouth "Same as it ever was" we turned to each other and screamed once in a lifetime and completely lost our SHIT!

Man I've still got a smile from Sunday night. When it dissipates, I can always put on that DWD bliss jam Thank YOU, Phish.

Well, my travels allowed some time to view lots of comments about these shows being weak, etc. I couldn't disagree more. This was my third Dick's trip... each special in their own way. Maybe some of 2015 songs weren't extended as much as some would like. But in this case Quality over Quantity applies. Beautiful shows, interesting set list placements, great playing and beautiful vibe. Hearing about Mexico in the two days before Dick's wasn't so exciting, especially when I realized there's no way I could attend due to work. Other than that, wonderful weekend of shows and excellent tour closer. THANK YOU!

A few more words about this show and Summer 2015 as a whole.
Phish is a band that inspires more creative output from their fan base than any other band has come close too and yes Im fully aware of the Deads fanbase and all they've done.
But the Phish faithful are something entirely different. This very website is a special and unique form of artistry. A canvas & a tribute coexisting in the digital sphere, arts newest aesthetic.
Ive already read (and myself contributed to) 100s of thousands of word just on this tour alone! I find that to be one of the most consitently surprising and charming attributes of being a Phish fan.
I know that that sort of creative reaction to art rubs a lot of people the wrong way, talking about fans both new and old here.
And certainly there is as many poorly expressed fan outputs as there are well wrought ones, probably much more if we're being honest.
But I still love each and every one of them.
When people who aren't in the habit of expressing themselves creatively step out on to that ledge and begin to do they take the first step on a path that great thinkers the world over have dubbed the highest achievement in the realm of personality that man can achieve.
For that reason alone even the poorest of expression should be celebrated IMO, not flamed and stunted.
World renowned post-Freudian psychoanalyst Otto Rank said in his career defining work "Art and Artist" that artisitic expression is "subjective transference brought to its absolute and purest conclusion. A total synthesis of human personality, a back and forth told in symbols as only humans can do. To do so or attempt that journey is the highest form of prayer one can wring from the human experience."
Ranks devasting insight holds what may be the closest thing to an Absolute I have ever read.
If you see it as rife with abstraction then take for a moment the words of Ernst Becker on the evolving trend in human culture regarding our nitpicking and short-sightedness when confronted with the lay person who dares to speak in depth on a subject for which he has not achieved "full mastery" - "...the impossibility of making general statements, which has lead to a general imbecility...."
Becker was reacting to his own observations of modern culture in these quotes, in an era when "criticism" had reached self-ascribed sentience. Becker,himself only a mere anthropologist by trade,had played the victim to the intelligentsia of the psychoanalytic structural hierarchy and was especially sensitive to harsh criticism leveled at those would attempt to break free from those restraints of personality and express themselves in waters previously untested.
This brings us to that quote which sent said hierarchy up in arms, screaming for the hills but which also probably sealed the Pulitzer Prize for Becker, a quote that some people on here and at other scattered digital locales would do well to remember the next time they find themselves about to stifle anothers creative expression -
"“The great characteristic of our time is that we know everything important about human nature that there is to know. Yet never has there been an age in which so little knowledge is securely possessed, so little a part of the common understanding. The reason is precisely the advance of specialization, the impossibility of making safe general statements, which has led to a general imbecility. What I would like to do in these few pages is to run the risk of simple-mindedness in order to make some dent in the unintended imbecility brought about by specialization and its mountains of fact. Even if I succeed only poorly, it seems like a worthwhile barter. In such a stifling and crushing scientific epoch someone has to be willing to play the fool in order to relieve the general myopia.”

Peace Out, see you freaks in Mexico.
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Going to see Phish at Dicks was always on my bucket list. I never thought that I would get to go but my brother (who has never seen a show in his life and tolerates my obsession) surprised my husband and I with a trip of a lifetime and decided that he would go see what it was all about with us. I could have never imagined that my once in a lifetime trip would end with a once in a lifetime show. Phish said thank you in the most amazing way. I never thought I would see Keyboard Army and being so short my husband lifted me up to see the magic unfold. If that was not magical enough my darling husband who goes around saying same as it ever was on a daily basis got his Once in a Lifetime and to finish it off my brother, husband and myself were holding each other as tears streamed down our faces as United We Stand was played. It was magical, amazing, and a moment I will never forget. Thank You for all the music all these years. My brother who instantly became a fan Sat night was in awe, my husband wept with joy, and myself words cannot describe how special and important that thank you was.

The video of this encore is my new response when people ask me why I go to phish shows. What an incredible way to keep send us off after an incredible tour, and to keep us on our toes--we thought the Dicks set list gag was a thing of the past, but instead we got maybe the best one yet.

Also, anyone else hear the Chilling Thrilling scream teases during Saw It Again?

Correction - It may have been 1990 I first saw Landlady. It's been a long time!

IMHO the band is playing better than ever.

All three shows at Dick's were amazing! I was in the stands for nights 1 and 2, and got a field pass for day 3 by making a $30 donation to the Waterwheel Foundation -- Thank you Phish!

So lucky to be there for the breakout Landlady! I remember my first Landlady at the Front in Burlington in 1989 -- my first show. It was that song that turned me on to Phish!

Between the great music, great fans, and great venue, I feel blessed.

All three shows at Dick's were amazing! I was in the stands for nights 1 and 2, and got a field pass for day 3 by making a $30 donation to the Waterwheel Foundation -- Thank you Phish!

So lucky to be there for the breakout Landlady! I remember my first Landlady at the Front in Burlington in 1989 -- my first show. It was that song that turned me on to Phish!

Between the great music, great fans, and great venue, I feel blessed.

For the first time to my ears the first set did not feel deliberate, like it had on the previous two nights. The songs jammed nicely and weren't cut short but none were stretched out and the band still got exactly the same number of songs in the first set as each other night.

The Mule Duel (including Fish on the marimba), Birdwatcher and Frankenstein were great fun, watching from home. That front row experience is pretty sweet with these songs and I wholeheartedly recommend viewing stuff like this as video. The Frankenstein took an extra measure in a few places, it was extra rocking.

A word on the gimmick(s). So, there wasn't a spelling gimmick in these sets, at least not an obvious one and if there is one Trey said it was "scrambled" by Harpua. That was a clue, so I take it to mean there's an answer to be found. All three first sets had the same number of songs and there may be something in there, once the letters are unscrambled. There may be two gimmicks to this series of shows, one being a puzzle the other being rather obvious.

Like the previous two nights, the entire second set was a continues flow of music. The transition from Tweezer to The Horse was exceptional and you could see the whole band was feeling very good about their sustained ability to play Silent in the Morning, actually very good considering how often it is played. DwD was a monster, as was 2001. Piper was short, sweet and to the point.

Like the previous two nights the encore was outstanding nobody could had been made happier by this or either of the other two encores. They just killed it with the encores.

A word on United We Stand. This song is either a joke or it is really insulting. If anybody can get this opinion to the band, do so ASAP. We shouldn't ever have to be exposed to that again.

BTW, one time when Harpua went unfinished, it got finished in the next festival. So, be on the look out for the narrative to get completed.

FWIW, this show is about as good as it gets. If it doesn't put an enormous smile on your face, you need to take a hiatus.

After two solid but nothing special shows, it seemed the "Phishy" Dick's run of doing something unique ended after five years. The set break was so long it seemed something was up, or as the guy behind me said "someone was taking a dump". Apparently they were just getting prepared to fuck our face!
Highlight for me was DWD, Slave and obv the encore!
T P
H H
A I
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K H
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I flew from Miami with my very close friend McKenzie who had never seen Phish before. She had heard enough shows on tape and although she is in her early twenties, she is a very old soul.
We were having cocktails in my hotel room before the third night and I was explaining the history of how The Landlady ended up in the middle of PYITE. I also made a passing comment of how I always wanted to hear it like the old days, by itself.
History has now shown what happened on that third night.
She was fortunate enough to not only see The Landlady, but also HYHU>Bike>HYHU with Phish on Vacuum and that historical Harpua third set/encore in her first three shows !
My first trip to Dick's and I will never forget it. Thank's McKenzie for making the experience so much sweeter !

This show was just great. The Landlady started kind of slow and a little off, but it got much better and was very special to all who heard it. Free was pretty standard but you knew it was going to be a special night because trey was laying down the funk. Scent was great as usual, lovely interplay as usual between all the band members and not just trey and page.
My first birdwatcher was great, they did a really good job with the tones and background vocal play among them during the song. So impressive, very similar to freebird.
Sec set was started with a bang with Wilson, such a great symbolic beginning to show that this band is alive and very well.
The whole set segued and intertwined into a beautiful functioning jam space. The encore was just phenomenal hadn't heard a keyboard army or after midnight and the no2 was better than MPP(best I heard was '99, great woods). Hadn't heard once in a lifetime since the omni, this version was great, I enjoyed it so much better than in '96. Just great, as I have found and I'm sure you have also...after this band covers a song well, the only thing you want is to hear it again (is this what you wanted was so great in Vegas).

Just love this band so much

With all the negative reviews and the intense buildup for 2 reasons really. . 1 Magnaball and the Summer 2015 were both so SO good. . and 2 Dicks at least night 1 usually had a spelling gag that was lots of fun. Now we see they saved that for a more modest "just encore" THANK YOU instead of FUCK YOUR FACE like that sarcastically told us they would not play lushington based on the rolling stone article in a round about way etc.
I say all this in perspective. We all think that this was a disappointment and compared to Magnaball and 7-31 8-4 and 8-7 and even 8-11 and 15 these were all inferior even w a Harpua.
But then I remember something that for me is far more important. I look at the reviews the amount of say 3.75 and below ratings for shows in our favorite year 1997 and they ARE THERE. Just as many in fact as in this year so far. That is impressive and hopeful. . inspiriing even for a bunch of old men still able to occassionally find greatness. They never were on every night guys. We have too high of expectations for 50 yr old geisers who could never sing well to begin w. . they are amazing musicians but they are not BB King or E Clapton or Paul McCartney. . .they are for me on the level of Garcia or David Gilmour . . but they are not Hendrix. . Trey just has too much experimenting to be considered great the way the media sees great. I personally "like" him better and will always like them better but they will never sound as "pretty" as Gilmour does on Division Bell or Marley does or Del McCourey - because not only do they not stick to str8 playing which is exactly what we love about them -we never know what is going to happen - but they also are JACKS of their trade and not Kings of any and by that i mean they pull from ALMOST ALL genres instead of mastering one. They will never be the best bluegrass band (not even in 94 when they learned the craft) nor will they ever be the best funk band - they will never be black enough and Mike Gordon is amazing but he is just not exactly the King. On their own they are just great musicians. . together it works because they all love to experiment and we the audience always let them. Lots of acceptance within the community. But we act like they are immortal and cannot make mistakes at 50 and in 2015. Guys come on they made mistakes in 1995 and 1997 and 1999 my personal favorite yrs. . they were always humans who portalled to levels of greatness with energy and chemstry by taking risks and falling really flat sometimes and jams that just sorta go on forever but never have the moments like the Sand 6-7-09 at the end w that amazing riff . . they cant all go there. I never expected them too. Dicks was ok . .just ok i agree. But overall this Summer was amazing and they are HAVING FUN! Perhaps the most important thing in all this is that their leader is sober and seems to always wanna stay that way and so yes the jamming has changed a bit. . look at him fucked up in 2-22-03 playing Tube at i admit it was far better but that same heroin led to him eventually playing like shit and only 1 yr later. . .the entire 2004 only had 3 good (not great) shows. Only 1 great. 6-19 6-20 and 8-12 parts of 11 were ok. . .I take the short Tube jams and the garage band is some are calling it where Trey just totally stops a jam mid-jam and goes into another tune w a jarring obviousness cause the cords at the beginning of the new song dont fit the jam they are coming out of (in other words, it sounds like Trey is in a rush to go somewhere or get through the songs or night and we do NOT like that) and i agree i dont like it . . but sober minds work different than opiate laced minds. . .i preferred the slow cow funk and dark jams in 2003 like 2-22-03 and 7-30-03 (highly underrated show) but some think it got scary dark. . I always liked dark jams but Trey is no longer in a DARK place. . he is in a happy place and unfortunately the jams then are gonna be happier, shorter, less experimenting and more new songs w LOTS of lyrics. . deal w in Phans. I have to and so do u. . remember there are still 3.0 moments of greatness we maybe just have to look harder. . they are GRINDing at many many days on the clock . . .we all are slowly dying w them. . Id rather them happy and healthy than play the best jams for 1 yr and burnout like 1999 and 2003 w a wave crashing yr to come as Trey put it w Charlie Rose. 2000 and 04 both seemed like the end of something. . i am so glad the story did not end my Senior yr in college 2004. . .

Decided to review this show just based on mental recollection from being there almost 7 years later. I will relisten to this show at some point but for now, this is all memory and taking a look at the setlist for the first time in years.

Just a preface, this night was one of the best nights of my life. It still is one of the best nights of my life. I *really* got the experience I was looking for at a Phish show.

Anyways, we were all pretty tired and worn out but we were excited for Sunday. Never miss a Sunday show, as they say. And it delivered. My buddy and I snuck our way down to the pit again for the second straight night, and this time I didn't even have to bribe the usher to do it, I just pretended like I had a wristband. Classic moves. They opened with Punch You In The Eye... or so I thought. I didn't learn until after the show that it was just The Landlady.. I literally did not remember the difference or even comprehend that it was anything different than a standard Punch, only learning later that they just didn't do the lyric part. I loved it anyways, great opener, got everyone dancing.

Free was the second song of the show at my very first show, so I was remembering that when it was going. Always loved that one, and then Moma into Seven Below, what a great start to the show. Of course, a Prince Caspian > BDTNL > The Line next isn't anyone's top choice, but I thought it was fine. Better get it now than in the middle of set 2. I don't mind any song live and I don't remember them at all, honestly funny looking back that they put those next to each other, I had completely memory-holed them. I loved Scent of a Mule, glad I caught it since it's becoming a rarity as of late. I don't remember Saw It Again or Halfway to the Moon, but I definitely enjoyed the Frankenstein closer. They rocked out on that one and I enjoyed the Keytar. I also enjoyed the acapella tune, even though it was hard to hear. Was happy to get one, haven't gotten one since!

Set 2 has the jam of the run, and it's the DWD. I recall distinctly looking for "hose" all throughout the run and at my previous shows, and this is the first time I got it. Definitely remember staring at the lights just transfixed as they catapulted us into blissy areas. Definitely one of my highlights of the entire experience! Carini next was an absolute welcome, I remember everyone going nuts at the guitar riff to begin it. I mainly recall having a little higher hopes for the rest of the set, but nothing really takes off or stands out, including the Tweezer, which I was very excited to hear but then it ended fairly quickly. I do remember the Slave encore and that was very good.

So we went 6 sets and 2 encores without a setlist gag, and at this point I thought it was shelved. Unfortunately, there isn't going to be something like a Fuck Your Face or Lushington. When they dropped into Tweezer Reprise, I had a couple feelings. First was are they really just gonna end it like that? They always do another song and then into > Tweeprize. Is that really it?

Kind of disappointing TBH - but then the place just was stunned into massive jubilation when they dropped the OOM-PAH-PAH for HARPUA!! I think at this point I was just running around hugging everyone LOL. The guy behind me was yelling that it was his 105th show and his first Harpua (congrats to him!) meanwhile it was my 6th and I got one. I honestly never expected this to happen, I was stunned, could not believe that it was happening, never in a million years that I was getting a HARPUA at one of my first couple of shows! I also love Bulldogs so this was an extra treat. I think this account is named after this song too. I thought "finally, we're getting something special at this run", it had kind of been middling so far musically, despite the fantastic time I was having, and at the minimum I could take home that I got to see the fabled Harpua.

I was transfixed seeing the narration and I've definitely watched it back a few times to relive those magical moments. This was uncharted ground for sure (Harpua, in an encore? Anything could happen!) and they dropped into After Midnight, which was a surprise, and a really upbeat, rhythmic tune. I remember thinking they were doing it at a really fast tempo. After Trey did his speech about only writing down the setlist once, I was clued into the spelling gag, and so from Your Pet Cat on I was mentally thinking which songs could come next.

An underrated aspect here is how funny Trey was on this, he definitely rehearsed it for sure along with the band and this was a planned gag that may have been in the books for a while. He was cracking us up with the story about the oxygen tank and the gummies and the weed vapes, definitely an ode to Colorado's weed and all of that. Trey did a good impression of someone on the Oxygen tank. I was super hyped for N02, that was a rarity that I did not see coming and it was a pretty good version with Mike on drill. Keyboard Army functioned as the slowdown of the encore and then they did Your Pet Cat, another tune I liked. Great tie-in to Harpua and a slick way to talk about the cat dying.

Now after this was one of the pivotal moments of the show, of my life, and of Phish lore. So Trey wraps up YPC and then he starts to talk about Jimmy, and how he began to wax philosophically. I had been wondering what the O song would be, I think I was thinking it could be Ocelot or something like that. I think I mentioned to a buddy of mine that it could be Once In A Lifetime, "but I doubt it". Lol. So Trey keeps talking about Jimmy, and how he began to wonder aloud, what's going on.. how did I get here??? All of a sudden my entire life hung in the balance and I was absolutely screaming my lungs out from 20 rows back on Mike's side "PLAY IT, PLAY IT, PLAY IT!!!!" At this time I'd like to note that I absolutely love the Talking Heads and that they were one of my favorite non-Phish bands, so getting this was like a cosmic sign. It felt like that moment where they were "waxing philosophically" seemed to last forever, hanging in the balance... and the crowd began to catch on as to what was happening as Trey kept saying.. How did I get here.. and then the opening chords to it clanged down and I just about went ballistic, as did the rest of the crowd. I couldn't sit still and was on cloud 9.. Definitely one of the best moments of my life. It wasn't the most well played but that didn't matter... United We Stand was a nice little upbeat love and light tune to end it... I don't think I slept much that night, that was simply incredible.

Thus ended my first magical Phish camping weekend. We piled in the car the next morning and headed home for classes to begin the next Tuesday.. Great stuff. Will never forget that night for sure as long as I live.

As a more contemporary review, 7 years later as we lead up to Dick's weekend 2022, that encore basically single-handedly saved the weekend both for me and in the eyes of a lot of fans, it's a song stretch - "the THANK YOU encore" - that everyone knows about as soon as you mention it, it's one of the best Harpua interplays really since Vegas 1996. They really made it work musically. Add in the DWD from Set 2 and you've got a hell of a show. I will point out that for many years after 2015, at least up until about 2020 or 2021, this show was languishing below 4 stars on Phish.net. Despite the THANK YOU encore, it was seen as just the final piece to a Dick's run that was heavy on songs and light on jams. However, its reputation has clearly increased over time, and as I write this in August 2022, it's getting a fat 4.56/5 and is one of the higher shows of the year (#9) in a year with quite a few top-tier shows. So it's gotten better among fans since the initial reaction. The DWD was also a stunner. I will agree that this run as a whole left something to be desired, at least musically, in terms of exploration. There weren't any really super notable jams of the 3 days except for the DWD, but I didn't need them. I already had a great time and would have regardless of what they played. Statwise, there were some incredible bustouts this show (Landlady, last played 1994), Keyboard Army (1995), Once in a Lifetime (1996) and clearly they were all just having a great time.

I also don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this is one of the best Phish encores of all time. 8 songs, spelling a phrase, that included Tweezer Reprise, Harpua, N02, and Once in a Lifetime, plus a bustout from 1995 and then a cover debut. It's up there with Vegas '96 (and even edges out total time played by over a minute on that one) and while UIC 2011's encore after the element set was a minute longer in playtime (37>36), that just didn't have the incredible drama and song choice that this one does.. Almost assuredly one of the top 2 longest encores in Phish history in terms of minutes played, so I don't think this one will be forgotten anytime soon.

If I could give this show 10 stars out of 5, I would, because it was as good of an experience that I could have asked for.. really just incredible finale to a great weekend that helped solidify Phish as my favorite band of all time. Letting the days go by....

Did anyone else hear the 2001 vibes from page starting to come in towards the end of Carini? I started going crazy when I heard this and then steam came in, first time hearing that one so I a little dazed and confused. Next I got caught up in the Piper, melodically jamming along, and before I know it my suspicions were confirmed when the unmistakable keyboard and drums dropped in to set the rocket ship that is 2001 into orbit, then I really went nuts in the dancing.